Grizzlies In The Bighorn Mountains!

Grizzlies In The Bighorn Mountains!

By Todd Helms

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are largely split into two geographic regions: areas with no g-bears and areas with g-bears. Traditional grizzly habitat centers around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem but the grizzlies don’t know that and with growing bear numbers the bears are venturing outside the GYE in increasing numbers and frequency. 

The Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming have long been heralded as the playground of Wyoming. They are centrally located, offer abundant hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback riding opportunities and until Monday, had ZERO official grizzly bear residents. That g-bear free status has now officially been ended with the killing of a cattle depredating grizzly in the Bighorns outside of Tensleep, Wyoming. 

This news comes as little surprise to most locals. Rumors of the big bruins roaming the Bighorns have circulated for years but until Monday there had never been an official recognition of grizzly bears in the mountain range. 

Where there’s one, there are likely more! With one grizzly on the books in the Bighorns there will likely now be more recognized as well. As previously mentioned, the burgeoning grizzly population in the GYE is outgrowing the resource which forces the bears, especially young males to seek opportunities beyond where they are socially acceptable. Farmers and ranchers will feel the bite of grizzly expansion first but it will trickle down to recreational users as well.

Food storage requirements and “safety regulations” for recreationalists will likely be a first step but there will be a slew of unintended consequences if/when grizzlies establish a population in the Bighorns. Wyoming Game and Fish does not consider the Bighorns as suitable grizzly habitat due to the level of conflict with humans which would assuredly result and which is not good for grizzly bear conservation. Reading between the lines… if WYGFD doesn’t consider the Bighorns suitable habitat they will most likely do their best to keep grizzlies from becoming established there. 

Now for the opinion… I love the fact that there’s been an official grizzly incident reported in the Bighorns. It points directly to the successful recovery of grizzly bears in the lower 48 and is one more case for state-level management via controlled, limited-quota hunts. If the bears are naturally wandering that far to find new homes due to competition with other bears it’s time to hunt them! 

What say you? I’m dying to hear your thoughts on grizzly bear expansion all across the West. 

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